N.B: Lesibians is derived from Lesiba Secondary School were the author of the article, Mr Lulamile Sifuba and his friends mentioned in the article below graduated.
THE GATHERING OF LESIBIANS.
 |
| Aticia Mdhluli and Naledi Molo. |
Article written by: Mr Lulamile Sifuba
It was a windy Saturday afternoon I was coming from a
dear friend's funeral – tired and a bit cold.
I wasn’t sure whether to have a few drinks of merlot wine
with Bafana or take a nap but ultimately I decided to take a nap not because
I’m a miser but I respect the art of wine;
we didn’t pair the wine with
chicken, hard cheese nor red meat.
Before I took a nap I checked my Facebook newsfeed and I
saw Valerie Nkosi’s status “Innocent Ndlovu….I still cannot believe you are
gone” I didn’t pay much attention to the
status, because in her status she also checked in, at Lekazi which is in
Mpumalanga.
I thought she went to Mpumalanga to bury one of her colleagues
whom she was supposed to have fun with her on that very same Saturday. Since I was tired I dozed off, I woke up and
few hours later, and I went to my Facebook again, and I refreshed it to get the
latest statuses, there I saw Bafana and two other friends who commented on
Valerie’s status and I pressed the comment button to see the ‘two other
friends’: to my surprise I saw more than ‘two other friends’, viz.: Palesa
Sithebe, Simangele Nyamakazi, Sylvia Vandala, Aticia Mdhluli; to mention but
the few.
I was bothered because all these people who commented on
this status are people I graduated with at Lesiba Secondary School. I saw how
all these comments perfectly described Innocent but my mind remained in denial,
it kept on saying “it’s not her” until few minutes later when Musa Madikana
called me and said “Ntanga, did you hear that Moe the model has passed away?”
because of disbelief my mind carried out every possible description to make
sure that we are talking about the same person and all of Musa’s answers were
“yes, that one”
I was dumbfounded. I wanted to go back to sleep again but
then I had exhausted all my sleep from my early nap, all I could do was go
through Moe’s Facebook pictures and gaze
at the collage of beauty that is no more
- its undeniable Moe was very beautiful – the class of 2004 not only has engineers, teachers, authors, pastors,
and accountants to boast about but it also had a model to add onto the list,
which I, whom I believe we are still going to boast about , I personally stand on the notion that the
class of 2004 Lesiba graduates are a
unique badge.
For quite a good number of people, too many emotions let
loose during the week, I suppose, but for now allow me to fast forward to
Saturday morning to Innocent ‘Moe’ Ndlovu’s funeral. The funeral service was
supposed to start at 7:00 am. If like me, you are nocturnal and slow: you don’t
like autumn breeze – 7:00 am is too early because you have to sacrifice your
sleep but then as a pastor and a friend I had to be in a service on time, my friend, Bafana, and I went there together
and I could see the hurt in his eyes but I chose to turn a blind. ‘we will poke
our emotions after we have laid Moe to her ‘last bed’’ I thought to myself.
We got to Moe’s place a few minutes late but the service
had not yet commenced. As pastors, we assumed that maybe there aren’t too many
people on the programme and that meant the service will start at 8:00 am and
guess what? Our prediction was correct. (As pastors we know the game *laughs*)
At 8:00 am the service commenced and we went to the tent,
as the programme continues, we see Lesibians flooding in, Bafana whispered to
me “Mara ntanga sesibadala” that is an IsiZulu
way of saying “we are grown up”. I’m not sure who Bafana saw that made
him to reverberate those words and I concurred with him by saying “yeah”. The
service continued until it was time for the pastor to preach, and to be honest
with you that pastor didn’t serve the purpose, instead he was campaigning for
ANC and boasting about his erroneous theology – he gave Moe an undignified
funeral. I wish was the one preaching at Moe’s funeral, of course with my
‘accomplice’ in Christ; Bafana Mboweni.
Enough about politics, we went to Phumlani cemetery and
to our surprise the grave was full of water, probably from last night’s rain
but the soil was dry (dear reader please don’t develop a myth around the story)
it was rain. Ten litre buckets were organized to extract water from the grave
and within a fraction of a minute the water had been extracted; all thanks to
the industrious men who did a great job within a split second. I could see
Valerie and Nthabi crying, my view was opaque, I really hope my facts about Vee
and Nthabi are true.
Palesa and Naledi passed us by and stood next to us. I loved
that ‘vintageous’ black blazer with gold details that Naledi wore and how can I
forget the maroon dress that Palesa was wearing? Yeah, these girls are still
beautiful and they have great fashion sense. Then came Aticia to stand next to
me, yes! Bafana and I were sandwiched by
a bevy of beauty. I couldn’t resist the fruity smell; fastidiously it was a
smell of bushels of apples. I couldn’t behave myself, I found myself asking Aticia:"what’s
the name of the cologne you wearing?" Meanwhile in the ‘background’ the
mourners were singing ‘baba wam’ ngibambe ngingashi emlilweni’. She told me the
name of her cologne and I forgot it but I console myself with DKNY Apple,
because it smells the same as her cologne. Don’t ask me why I’m so concerned
with female’s colognes, dresses and blazers…
We went back home for refreshments and I couldn’t wait to
recap and hear their stories and while we were on the queue; there came Nombuso
Sibeko; trust you me, for many it was difficult to identify her because she had
gained weight and her persona was far from exuberance, I remember how, while we
were enjoying our refreshments Palesa hysterically asked ‘u-Nombuso lo?’ and we
were all like “khan’ umbona manje?” And
we all burst into laughter; harmoniously.
We began to recap and some have expressed how others
behave, these ‘others’ behave like we never graduated together back in 2004 at
Lesiba but Nthabi with her tongue thrusting speech gave us simple advise which
was “F**& everyone who rides a high horse”
I was surprised to find out that some had been buried a
long time ago. The most exciting part is
that some have kids, some are still single and most are married, and most of
this connubial bliss is within the Lesibians themselves, Bafana being the only
exception. Maybe the single ones also
want their connubial bliss to come from Lesiba. Lesiba seems to produces weds
more than it produces academia, which is not a bad thing at all.
In short I enjoyed meeting you all guys, and I know that
Valerie wasn’t happy about the ones who didn’t make it to Moe’s funeral without
having sent through an apology. Next
time I hope we will meet each other at someone’s wedding. Bafana and I will
officiate the wedding – we are hardcore pastors like that. I don’t know if you guys noticed, Bafana and
I were the only males…oh no! Kenny was also there, how can I forget that? And
Valerie before I forget, Lloyd Manqaba sent his apology. It was good hearing
Valerie’s voice, seeing the silhouette of Palesa's body, the firm decision
making Aticia, that beautiful wedding ring on Nomsa Ngomane’s finger, Nombuso’s
humility, Naledi’s flamboyancy and Nthabi’s free spirit, our only wish was to
see Moe’s craziness as she was our purpose of gathering but I’m sure she’s
happy because we paid her a perfect tribute – may her soul rest in peace.
May God bless you all in your future endeavours.
"One of the liberating truths is when you realise that its not innate for women to be subordinate" - Lulamile Sifuba.
From the heart
The future belongs to the artist- Caroline
Tenacious Phoenix Songs
Caro-on-the-grind
